Oakland A’s: Time to clean house?

It’s a bit more than a third of the way through the season, and we know what kind of team the Oakland A’s have–a disappointing one.

The A’s have the best pitching in the American League by a wide margin (3.01 ERA to second place Seattle’s 3.36), primarily because they throw so many ground ball outs. But the hitters rank 12th in runs and many other categories, ahead of only the Mariners and Twins.

The good news is that they’re only 3.5 games out of first and Baseball Prospectus still gives them a 25 percent shot at making the playoffs. Still, with Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz back from injury in Texas, the A’s don’t have the look of a contender.

The main problem has been the infield. Daric Barton has been the single biggest disappointment, Mark Ellis’ defense can’t make up for a miserable .548 OPS and Kevin Kouzmanoff hasn’t been much better.

There’s no obvious replacement for Barton in the system, but the hard-hitting River Cats (stats) have several strong candidates at 2B and 3B, including Jemile Weeks, newly acquired Scott Sizemore and the rehabbing Adam Rosales. Among outfielders, Jai Miller is having an excellent season at Sacramento and Jermaine Mitchell’s numbers in Midland are amazing.

If nothing else, rookies would provide a jolt of energy. The team made a good move in 2008 by benching Bobby Crosby, bringing up Cliff Pennington and giving him two months to sink or swim. Is it time to do something similar?